A-C, strip clubs prepare for booze license ritual

Adult clubs

It's that time of year again - time for two local strip clubs to apply for alcohol licenses, time for Athens-Clarke County to turn them away.

Local law has prohibited strip clubs from selling alcohol since 1997, but through a series of lawsuits and appeals, attorneys for Chelsea's and Toppers International Showbar have kept the debate alive and the booze flowing.

In a continuing effort to make the local law as bulletproof as possible, county attorneys will present Athens-Clarke commissioners next week with a minor change to the adult entertainment ordinance.

The addition doesn't make it harder to get a license; it would automatically approve an application if the government doesn't deny it within 60 days.

But, a high court recently ruled that the language should be there, so county attorneys decided to add it, according to County Attorney Bill Berryman.

In the meantime, the latest legal spat that started over the club's 2003 alcohol licenses could wrap up just in time for another round in 2004.

County attorneys - backed by a decision of Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens - say the clubs don't have a license to sell alcohol during 2003.

The clubs' attorneys have appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Georgia - a move that also allowed the bars to continue selling alcohol while the appeal plays out.

The county has asked the court to dismiss the appeal and penalize the strip clubs for filing a frivolous appeal.

Toppers' attorney, Jeff Rothman, will continue to pursue the Georgia Supreme Court appeal, he said, even though the issue is whether a local judge granted the clubs licenses good through 2003.

While not much of 2003 is left for dance and drink, the question of the 2003 licenses is important, Rothman said, because county attorneys likely will argue that the clubs' license applications for 2004 were denied because the bars were selling alcohol without a license in 2003.

''We want the issues settled,'' Rothman said.

While Berryman maintains that the clubs don't have licenses to sell alcohol, the county hasn't tried to prosecute the businesses for illegally selling alcohol.

''I don't know why they aren't doing it. I think they want to see how the appeal turns out,'' Rothman said.

But county workers turned away Toppers' application to renew its 2003 license for another year, sending Rothman away to draft an application for a new license.